CONWAY, S.C. – For the second time in four days, the Coastal Carolina women's volleyball team defeated Appalachian State, as the Chanticleers topped the Mountaineers 3-1 (25-11, 21-25, 25-17, 25-22) on Sunday afternoon in the two teams' regular-season finale.
 
Prior to the match, the volleyball program recognized its three super seniors in Ani Bozdeva, Doris Carter, and Cheyenne Jones as part of Senior Day.
 
The win pushes the Chanticleers to 18-8 overall on the season and 12-4 in conference play. CCU finished behind only South Alabama (15-1) in the Sun Belt East Division regular-season standings and will play as the No. 2 East seed on Friday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. ET in the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament.
 
The Chants' 18 wins this season marks the eighth time in 10 seasons under head coach Jozsef Forman that CCU has recorded 18 wins or more in a single season.
 
On Sunday, the Chants' offense was clicking, as CCU hit .361 as a team and posted a kills percentage of .479 over the four-set match.
 
Four Chants in Madison Lowery (.700), Jones (.500), Bozdeva (.433), and Ilse Sinnige (.417) hit over .400 on the match with at least 10 attempts, while Bozdeva and Jones led the way with 15 and 14 kills apiece, respectively.
 
The setter combo of Brigitta Petrenko and Marija Borcic combined to pass out 47 assists with Petrenko tallying 26 assists and 10 digs for a double-double and Borcic totaling 21 assists in the win.
 
Junior libero Lina Perugini finished with a team-high 13 digs, as CCU's 4.0 team blocks came by way of four total blocks by Jones and two block assists from Sinnige.
 
For Appalachian State, Mccall Denny had 11 kills on 38 attack attempts, while setter Sam Bickley finished with 21 set assists. Middle blocker Anna Kincaid had four total blocks to go along with her seven kills, while libero Emma Reilly had a match-high 15 digs in the loss.
 
After both teams started the match trading service errors, the home-standing Chanticleers used an Appalachian State ball-handling error to jump-start a 7-2 run to take an 8-3 lead and force an early Mountaineers' timeout.
 
Out of the break, back-to-back kills from Jasmine Rivest and Bozdeva, followed by another App State attack error, saw the Chants take a demanding 11-4 lead in the opening set.
 
The two teams swapped points over the next several rallies until a 5-0 run on kills from Bozdeva, Carter, Jones, and Sinnige helped push the Chants' lead out to 20-8.
 
Coastal closed the opening set on a 5-3 run, using another kill from Jones and back-to-back attack errors from App State to complete the 25-11 first-set win.
 
The first-set blowout win by the Chants did not detour the Mountaineers, as a service ace from Sophie Cain and a kill by Denny put the visitors in white in front at 6-3 to start the second set.
 
The Chants kept within striking distance of the Mountaineers until back-to-back kills from Lulu Ambrose and Denny extended the App State lead to five at 13-8 and forced Coach Forman to call a timeout.
 
CCU kept chipping away at the App State lead until a trio of Bozdeva kills and a service ace from Sinnige over a seven-rally span tied the set up at 19-19 and forced the Mountaineers to call a timeout.
 
Yet the Chants would not be able to retake the lead, as App State answered with back-to-back kills from Ambrose and Reilly and refused to let the Chants put together back-to-back points to hold on for the 25-21 second-set win and tie the match up at 1-1.
 
The third set, although close, belonged to the Chanticleers who led from start to finish in the win.
 
Coastal took a 2-0 lead on a block from Jones and Sinnige and another Mountaineers' attack error and did not look back, despite the visitors tying the game up at 4-4 on a bad set by the Chants.
 
A kill from Jones and another Sinnige service ace put CCU in front at 6-4 before the home team pulled out to a 12-7 lead on a Bozdeva kill.
 
The Teal and Bronze pushed its lead out to as high as eight points at 16-8 on back-to-back kills from Bozdeva and Petrenko, and again at 20-12 on another kill from Jones before a bad set and two consecutive service aces by the Mountaineers cut the Chants' lead to four at 20-16 and forced a CCU timeout.
 
After the timeout, the Chants turned it up a notch with five kills over the next six rallies, one from Carter, two from Lowery, and two from Rivest to seal the 25-17 third-set victory.
 
Coastal again took an early lead in the fourth set, as kills from Sinnige, Jones, Carter, and Jones once more put the home team on top at 4-3.
 
However, the set would remain close throughout, as the Chants took a 10-5 lead on a Rivest kill, a ball-handling error by App State, and Lowery service ace, only to see the Mountaineers battle back to cut the Chants' lead to two at 19-17 on back-to-back CCU miscues.
 
The two teams would trade kills and then errors to put the score at 22-20 before a block from App State's duo of Kincaid and Madison Baldridge put the Mountaineers within one at 22-21.
 
Following a Coastal timeout, the Mountaineers tied the set up at 22-22 with a kill from Kincaid. However, the home team went to its veterans as Jones spiked the ball to put the Chants back in front at 23-22 before Sinnige capped the win with back-to-back service aces to put the final score at 25-22.
 
CCU and App State each had 4.0 total team blocks, however, Coastal held the advantage in digs at 49-42, service aces at 6-4, and kills at 57-38.
 
The Chanticleers will take on the winner of the No. 3 West and No. 6 East seeded first-round matchup on Friday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. ET in Foley, Ala.

For complete coverage of CCU volleyball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalVball (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.